Kill The Dead
by architecture of destruction
Summary: There is no honour in death. Vampire!eren/levi, rieren


summary: vampire!au/ There is no honour in death.

a/n: oddly enough inspiration came from this video: watch?v=GJMhwJOJOx8 uhhh... yeah. I don't know why at first I was writing an rieren story called 'Blood Oath' where Heichou and Eren are vampires and some shit along those lines, the beginning of this story was the beginning of that one (I'm not writing that one anymore) and I decided this version would be better. More personal, more touching.

The sentence "there is no honour in death" really rings true, I remember reading a fanfiction based off of Mulan, I've never watched Mulan or heard about it before but—it rings true and painfully deep. There is nothing grand about your death. Also this fic follows a lot of the plot of SnK, but with my own twists and such.

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Kill The Dead

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There was one thing he always admired when he was a child—the Recon Corps.

Granted he was raised quite differently from different children, his parents discouraged it, telling him in their hushed voices that the Recon Corps is not for normal little boys like him. But he didn't understand—the Recon Corps had beautiful people, flawlessly so, eyes piercing dark and skin flawlessly pale, he had always reached out amongst the cheering people as the Recon Corps walked by, children praising the people that protect them. He heard it from everyone else, how the Recon Corps kills the Titans to the highest level, that the way they move is almost inhuman.

It's true, he remembers vaguely when he was a kid that a strong man, Lance Corporal Levi had stopped the hand of a Titan that had reached out to grab him, how the Corporal had held the monsters bare hands against his own—it was a power struggle, one that the Corporal had won in a minute. Little Eren had watched with large tear-filled eyes, the man looking over his shoulder and ordering for the kid to get off his ass and run, human.

His mother had been mortified to hear about Eren meeting with someone from the Recon Corps alone.

As a child he didn't understand why the villagers feared, but at the same time were immensely thankful to the Recon Corps.

"They're monsters," he remembers an old villager lady whispering as Lance Corporal Levi and his squad swiftly marched by the villagers, Eren, Mikasa and Armin watched carefully, ears trained on the old ladies words, "How can we leave humanities fate to a bunch of monsters?" She had bemoaned.

Monsters.

He had gone home, asking his father a million questions about the Recon Corps and why people call them monsters—even though all he see's is Lance Corporal Levi holding off the hand of a Titan, protecting him from death—his father had whispered the words, his lips curling up in a distasteful scowl, "Vampires," he had said, banging his hammer into the nail, looking at his son from the corner of his eye, "They're vampires. Pure bloods that need humans to live, so they agreed to protect humanity from Titans."

The words; then why does everyone hate them if they protect us? Were on the tip of his tongue.

He understands ten years later, when he's 18 and humans are swallowed, chewed and spat out like they're nothing—because really, they aren't anything. He understands, everyone hates the Recon Corps so much because it merely makes humans realize how defenceless they really are.

He's no exception, he realizes, even though he had trained in the military for three years so he wouldn't be as weak, but he's still human—after all.

He see's his life flash before his eyes, being young, holding his mother's hand as they smiled to each other as if the they were ready to whisper the secrets of the world into each others ears. He remembers his father, a stern man but loving at the same time—there's Mikasa, the girl he had killed for, years going by and her heart becoming more like a block of stone than a heart, Armin, his peaceful friend that had always been a victim of bullying.

He breathes out shakily, thrashing around to try and free himself from the grasp of the Titan.

_I can't die_, he thinks, screaming a desperate howl of despair when the Titan smiles that creepy fucking smile as if they know—but really they don't—and it's all too fucked up, because next thing he knows he's looking into the mouth of the beasts he had sworn to kill after his encounter with the Recon Corps.

He blinks, and the Titan's head is across the city, a sword glistening in place where the monster's head once was.

"Oh!" A girl says, the green cape fluttering behind her shoulders as she stands on the shoulder of the falling Titan, she smiles (and he ignores the shiny pointy white teeth looking straight at him) as she holds out her hand, Eren shakily letting himself be pulled by her till they're safely on the ground, she smiles, before he points to Lance Corporal Levi standing across them. "Go to him, stay close to him." She says, before she's flipping backwards into the air—gracefully, beautifully—her blades extended parts of her, and just like that, she disappears like the wind.

He falls to his knee's then, watching with wide eyes as the Corporal that had saved him years, _years _ago stands behind him, eyes looking down at his fallen form dangerously, his blades drawn as he clicks his tongue.

"Human." He says carefully after a moment, and Eren furiously rubs the tears that had begun to leak from his eyes.

"L—Lance Corporal Levi..." Eren says ducking his head in shame and standing onto two shaky feet, "My blades are dull and I'm almost out of gas and I've watched many people die," he takes a long shattering breath, "But I will fight. Till the end. My death will be honourable!" There's a shaking fist over his heart and surely he's crying.

Levi narrows his sharp red-rimmed eyes for a moment, placing his blades behind him as he swirls around, cape fluttering behind him like the wings of an angel—except the irony is that he's a devil—and Eren smiles a bitter smile as he watches the demon leave his side, steps strong and unflattering as the words, "You are a noble sacrifice," ring into the air, the blood eyes turn to a deadly sharp silver, an unimpressed frown marring his lips as he murmurs;

"But, there is no honour in death."

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"Eren!" Armin screams, his voice shrill as his petite hands scamper out to reach Eren, quickly in time before time runs out and—he screams, blood curdling and destructive as the mouth of the Titan clamps down, only to be stopped for one bloody second as he's pulled out and thrown aside, his figure curling up into a ball as he's flung across the roof, quickly gathering himself to his knee's just in time to watch his friend, his best-friend, sacrifice himself in return to be eaten by the very Titans every human hates.

Blue eyes straighten out to small pupils.

"E...Eren...?"

All that is left is the shiny row of teeth that belong to the monster that just ate his friend.

For a second he's in the mouth of the Titan, hands pushing at all surfaces as he screams bloody hell because he's about to die and the words of the Corporal are striking him over and over, no honour in death, and he thinks for a moment even without swords and a missing arm—he'll live, he'll see another day—and then he's falling down like Alice in a rabbit hole and everything turns black. The type of black people think about right before they fade into sleep, or the charcoal black you wonder about when you think of the demons that lurk around at night.

He's never been one to give up, when he was a child he was the only stubborn one that would fight for hours on end whilst Mikasa stood by his side, unflattering as strongly, Armin shaking like a scared leaf—he would punch, kick, scream and cause a riot. The only one that would speak up loudly in front of the dogs that spent their time drinking their lives away instead of actually protecting the people of the city.

"Fucking Titans!" He hollers angrily, bashing his fist against the inside of what he presumes to be a stomach—disgusting, filthy, I'm going. To. _Die_!—he runs his shoulder in, scowling at the red bubbling liquid in the stomach, "I'll kill you all! Every fucking one of you! I will save humanity!"

He fails to see how he'll save humanity trapped in the stomach of a disgusting beast, but he can think of such things later when he's out of here and away from the smell of rotting flesh, waiting till he faces his death. He wonders if there really might be honour in death, because he saved his best friend from his own impending doom, that must be honourable, right?

He bashes his fist again, a strangled cry leaving his lips out of frustration, "I KNOW FUCK! I NEED TO KILL YOU ALL!"

He was the one that talked big about killing every single Titan—he was the one that put Jean in his place and told the horror stories of when Wall Maria fell and he watched his own family get eaten by the Titans. He's the one that promised everyone, whether they believed him or not, that he'd kill every. fucking. one. of. them. He wasn't trying to say big words or have grandeur dreams, he was trying to bring hope to man kind.

His fingers slowly curl into a fist, tears of frustration about to leak from his eyes, "I'm going to kill each and every FUCKING ONE OF YOU!"

A surge of power wraps him up, cuddling him like a child right after a thunder storm, keeping him warm in a hand woven blanket. The energy wraps him inwards before it shoots out like tiny rays, opening holes within the Titan as his body lurches forward the sole word of survive floating within his mind as he swipes his—claws?—across the Titan's back, only taking a split second for him to run up the large body and to stab his arm straight through the Titan's only weakness—their necks.

It is all instinct, body twirling backwards through the air as he dances with what he presumes to fire surrounding him, bodies of Titans falling to his feet and scorching into ash in the air. There is no sounds in his head, merely hollow as he kills on instinct. There's nothing inside him any more, just the dull satisfying feeling of swiping down Titans and dancing with the wind.

Then it all goes black.

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"Dad?" His voice echoes, slamming into the dark walls and bouncing back against him, leaving his whole body frozen in this heated fiery sensation.

His father is crouched over him, needle hanging from his shaking fingers, "Eren I'm doing this to protect you—" he screams, lips thin and stretched as he stabs another injection, "To protect you!"

"Dad stop!" He screams, coming in and out of consciousness as the world spins black, "Why are you doing this?!"

There's a loud bang, horses crying out as his father frantically stabs the last needle, panting and crying over his son, "To protect you, humans are too weak, you need to be _strong._"

The voice cuts in, and slurs, small purple swirls invading Eren's vision.

"To protect you."

He hears the whisper of, the world swirling in his vision.

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"A vampire."

Hearing the word 'vampire' isn't an uncommon thing for him—the Recon Corps he so dearly respects, is made out of mainly vampires, after all. Sure humans can join the squad, but they'll never be within the ranks of the Lance Corporal or the twisted heart of the Lieutenant of the Recon Corps. Humans are too weak, too fragile.

His eyes flutter open, hoards of people surrounding him, looking at him with astonished eyes and he cranes his head upwards to see the face of the man standing in front of him.

"Corporal?" He chokes out after a moment of silence, his eyes opening fully.

Then pain—he chokes down a howl of pain when he looks at his arms, wrapped around in a deadly web of silver wires holding him to his knee's in front of the Recon Corps' Lance Corporal. The man standing above him with a disgusted frown finally cuts the wires, observing how Eren cradles himself, nursing the cuts from the silver wires that had him trapped.

"What are you?!" Someone screams amongst the sea of hollow disbelief.

Someone else adds in, "You lied you fucking vermin! You promised you had all your kind under control!"

"Answer him." A foot meets his head, squishing him into the ground as he whimpers out in pain, vision blurred from the silver that had entered his blood and somewhere in the haze he wonders—why does silver even bother me?—but he has no time to think clearly, the question 'what are you?' ringing painfully in his head.

"What are you," the man known as Pixis—probably one of the craziest, but strongest humans around—says in a calm bored tone, a bottle of liquor dangling from his side, Eren manages to look away from the boot of Levi practically crushing his face to see the grey-haired man, "Well boy, what are you? Human, Titan, Vampire?"

What—his thoughts come to painful halt, eyes turning in saucers as he manages to scramble onto his knee's—he doesn't however ignore the looks of shock when he brushes off Levi's powerful strike from his body—_what am I_?

He's never had a question like that directed at him before, what am I?

He remembers nothing after being swallowed, from his memories of a horrid time inside the beasts—he pauses going stiff, if he thinks about it, he has no memories. Blank. He draws a complete blank.

"How... How did I—I was e—eaten," his voice is borderline panicky and everyone is taking timid steps away from him, keeping their eyes full of disgust.

"You killed fourty-two Titans in 2 hours without any weapons or gas." Pixis finally says after a moment, lips curled up into a cruel smile as he brings the bottle to his lips to take a swig, "Sounds like a monster to me."

Levi scorns the human with a deadly glare, finally looking down at Eren with calculating silver eyes once again.

"I was not aware he was a vampire."

"V—vampire?" He repeats, the word sounding like lead on his tongue.

He covers his mouth, trying to avoid the onslaught need to vomit.

"But I don't think he is one, either," the Corporal adds in again, "He has a more disgusting stench, this brat. He smells like burning flesh."

The smell of unease fills his nose, leaving him to straighten out his body and stand more proud—and taller—than the vampire standing beside him.

Pixis smiles tentatively at the two, eyes closed, "Well then, I guess that means he's not anything, huh?"

The room falls completely silent, not just the type of silent where a few people near you go wordless and stare at you; it's the type of silence that leaves your blood cold and frozen because everyone is looking at you. Eren gulps slowly, looking up at Pixis from underneath his eyelashes.

"Then... What... Who am I?" Eren chokes out, shackles rattling around his ankles as he looks up to the judge with screaming terrifed eyes.

"Whatever he is," Levi cuts off, shifting his hip to the side as he narrows his eyes, "He will be put under my surveillance, he is too dangerous for humans to handle."

"We aren't giving you fucking vampires such a powerful weapon!" A strange bald looking man screeches, voice hoarse and becoming thinner and thinner when no one rises up to screech with him. Maybe it's the way Eren glares at him, or maybe because one of the Captain's men are holding a sword to his throat.

"You filthy humans should remember just who takes care of all those nasty Titans, if I wish to bring him into my squad you either let me or I'll tie each and every one of you bastards up, cut your throats and wring you like chicken till I'm full." The threat leaves every human gulping, though it was said monotonously without really any bite behind the words.

Then a shrill cry rings throughout the room, a limp body falling to the ground, and the smiling female brunette that had rescued Eren is standing over the shivering politician; grin stretched from ear to ear, "Oopps," she drawls, pearly whites shining, "You'll have to excuse me, I'm not as great at controlling my hunger as clean-freak over there."

"All of you leave." Clean-freak snaps, eyes glowering at the direction of the tall vampire as she skips out with the rest of her comrades.

"Very well," Erwin, a half-ling (Eren remembers the at home mothers whispering about the tale of the grandest strategist of their time, how his vampire mother had seduced a human man and bore his child, only to be ripped apart and burned by her own kind, the father fed to Titans for committing adultery, because he had another woman waiting at home who had 4 children), the man folds his hands in half, eyes closed as he smiles towards Levi sternly, "We will need you to cooperate with us, though. If he is a weapon of some sort."

"He isn't a weapon, he's one of our kind." The corporal cuts off, scowling.

"—Oh?" Erwin says carefully, brow raised as he leans onto his elbows. "Who would be his father?"

"Grisha Jeager, Sir!" Eren snaps out in a military fashioned way, tone way too loud, and body much too stiff. "My mother wou—"

"Grisha Jeager?" Levi snaps, lips curled up as he snarls at the stupidity, before sharply growling at Erwin, "I'll discuss this matter with you later."

"Yes, well," Erwin says, smiling kindly—but coldly—and Eren shivers, "You should come for tea later with Eren, I would like to have this matter sorted soon."

The gravel is hit against one of the wooden desks, a large man with curly white hair booming out, "Very well. Dismissed."

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"Follow me closely." Snaps Levi, the heels of his combat boots clacking against the tiled floor as they cross velvet drapes, painted in nothing but a deep crimson red, golden trimmings, and the whole entire mansion is quite elaborate, Eren realizes as he looks around the building, ignoring the confused stares of the maids sweeping the mansion floors languidly, as if they have all the time in the world.

The stop in front of two golden doors that go all the way up to the ceiling in height, pictures of the King, a man with silky blond hair and stunning deep blue eyes, and his Queens in various pictures littered around the hall, slowly, Levi knocks twice. "My King, I have brought Eren."

"Enter" is the low command, doors opening with just a push of Levi's middle finger. "Child, make yourself bleed."

Just like in the pictures the King looks too handsome and young to be a King, someone about Eren's age—and he doesn't doubt it for a moment, the King of vampires is supposed to be the very first vampire and all the pure bloods are the ones he turned. Centuries, Eren thinks as he looks between the corporal he admires and the King; there is centuries between them.

Shakily he obeys, bringing his wrist to his mouth and biting into the flesh tentatively—smiling in triumph when he manages to draw a bit of blood.

Levi scowls, "Why are you so scared? You'll heal in a moment, make it bigger, or else I'll cut off your arm."

Just like he had said the cut covers over in a moment and Eren glares weakly at it, holding his arm out towards the corporal frowning, "Do you know how weird it is to bite yourself?"

"It is fine, I already smelt his blood, even though it was a little," the King drawls kindly, smile stretching ear to ear, "I'm not certain who or how, but he is a pure blood."

"Oh? So what should I do with him?"

"Take care of him, use him on your squad and find him blood soon, his powers are quite weak." There's an odd sad smile as he finishes his command, "And Levi, do not let humans tamper with him anymore."

There's something almost knowing in the King's eyes, deep blue irises that have seen the entire world grow and collapse over and over—he doesn't doubt for a moment that this man can see the truth in a second from all his years alive. But it is not only time that makes someone wise.

Levi grunts, cocking his head to the side, "Come, Eren."

The large gold doors clatter shut behind them, leaving him right on the shorter vampires heels to make sure he doesn't get lost in a fortress of demons.

"Who was your father?" There's a long pause that follows the question before the brunette's face is up in his, eyes sparkling as she clasps his hands in hers, "Who? Who is the genius that did this?"

"Uh..." Eren starts off softly, diverting his eyes to look at Levi in panic, after receiving a snarky snort from Levi, the vampire nodded in confirmation, "Grisha Jeager."

"Jeager." Zoe repeats the name on her tongue, the sound becoming more and more sour until the female vampires face is completely blank, void of the excited emotions she earlier had. "I see, so then the vampire blood running through your blood is the blood of him..."

"The pure blood Jeager killed." Levi snaps back, sounding bored with the entire conversation, "There you got your answer, Hanji. I'm taking the brat now."

"Okay!" Zoe says, a slipped on smile forming on her lips as she reaches out to pinch Eren's left cheek, and succeeds, "Make sure you don't say that Jeager is your name. You'll be hunted."

He pauses, but ends up nodding to her. Though really his head is swirling, to be completely honest he wasn't expecting them to be able to figure out how he got pure blood of a vampire so quickly—actually, he was expecting this entire situation to forever be something that is like a dream, keeping him in a dazed state.

His father had killed a vampire and used that blood to make him a vampire.

He clutches his stomach at the sudden swirling discomfort, not sure how he should be handling this right now. The blood running through his veins isn't even his, it's a dead persons. A monsters. But not his.

"Eren, come." Levi says stoically, wagging Eren over with his middle finger, and the younger vampire complies easily, jogging up over to the demon with curious eyes. "I'll help train you, you don't know how to use your powers, do you?"

"So you'll teach me?"

"First, you need blood." Just as he murmurs this—a low murmur that Eren probably wouldn't have heard if he didn't have superb hearing—he pushes open a door, leading to a plain looking room with a random velvet red covered bed sitting flat in the middle.

"Blood?" The question itself is innocent enough, well, kind of. But he wasn't expecting for Levi to literally tense up like a statue, fingers curling inwards before slacking again.

"Yes. Blood." Levi says calmly, tugging at the front of his shirt to loosen it, flipping out the collar so his entire neck is expose—and Eren feels his tongue swelling, and confusion goes rapid, because when has necks ever made him this excited?—slowly the older male sits down on the side of his bed slowly, tugging down one side to expose his entire shoulder before he looks up to meet Eren's eyes, "Well, come feed you stupid brat."

"Feed." Eren repeats, eyes locked on the skin, his eyes prickling and fading into a crimson shade. "On, you?"

"No, I meant that lamp post over there." A sarcastic remark completed with an annoyed roll of his silver eyes, "Yes, me, do I have to fucking spell it out for you? Get over here and feed before I change my mind, Eren."

Eren doesn't bother asking anything else, instead letting his body move him over to where Levi is in a second, hands quickly grasping his shoulders and body perched over Levi's, eyes glowing—it takes a moment, him staring at the neck in confusion, yes, confusion, because he's never really drank blood and he doesn't know if it hurts or if it feels good, to be honest, he probably could enjoy Levi's blood even if the male was screaming bloody murder.

"Stop staring and drink," Levi snaps again, sliding his hand behind Eren's head and pushing it forward, snugging up Eren's face into the crook of his neck. "Drink up because I'm going to torture you after this."

The threat however goes unheard, sharp fangs glistening as he trails his tongue over a small patch of skin before biting down—maybe a bit roughly because Levi flinches when his fangs pierce. After that, his mind goes blank, eyes fluttering closed in bliss—never has he tasted something so rich, something so thick, like chocolate, almost.

Minutes pass before Levi's grip in his hair becomes tight, fingers curling into the locks as he yanks Eren away from him, not surprised when the young vampire hisses at him and stares back at the dripping blood in want and need.

"Shape up, you've drunk enough." Levi snaps, licking his thumb before rubbing it over the bite wound, he already knew from the King's warning that he'd have to slowly weave the kid into how to properly drink someone else's blood, considering the kid probably never drank blood before, nor did he ever learn proper manners. That be damned, if the brat wants to drink his blood he better be learning how to at least make it feel like he's floating on clouds instead on a bed of needles.

"Already?" Eren whines out finally, specks of green filtering through the vibrant red, "I didn't drink enough."

"You drank enough for now. You can have more tomorrow." After I drink some of your blasted blood, Levi thinks sourly afterwards, already wrinkling his nose at the notion. He's always hated blood-sharing with another vampire, it's too intimate, too messy and over all too many emotions involved. Though not this time because there was no need for emotions, Eren was desperate for feeding so Levi's body had merely allowed it to happen with no consequences, though, he knows next time won't be the same.

"Do you get thirsty too?" Eren asks slowly, yawning into the palm of his hand as he crawls onto Levi's bed, completely bypassing the horrified look Levi gives him as he lays down on the pillow Levi likes. His pillow.

"What are you doing."

"Sleeping." Eren responds, followed by a nice cat-stretch before he's curling up into the blankets. "Your bed smells like you, did you know?"

Levi manages to just stare for a moment, to take in and absorb the situation fully, in a few days from now he knows an image like this will leave him almost smitten—because blood bonds are fucking shitty like that—but right now it's absolutely terrifying that the brat just automatically invited himself into Levi's bed, he pauses before he's grabbing the scruff of Eren's neck and tossing the kid away into a far corner of the room,

Eren makes a nice ugly 'thump' sound as he bangs into the wall, rubbing the back of his neck and whining profanities at the male that had just thrown him into a fucking wall, before storming his way over to the bed again, "What was that for?!"

"You curled up in my bed. My bed." Because repeating things is always the best method to get your message across.

"It smells like you," Eren says blinking his wide eyes innocently, "And I'm still hungry so of course I'd sleep in it."

"Your logic fails to convince me." Levi says flatly, flipping over the pillow Eren touched before glaring at the younger vampire, almost tempted to be an asshole and use his magic on him to get him out of the room. Almost.

"Can I just—"

"Get out before I make you get out, brat."

"It's not even night!"

Levi pauses, eyes scrunching up at the comment. "Of course not, it's almost morning, dumbass, go sleep."

"I sleep during the night," Eren says slowly, awkwardly switching feet, "Is that weird?"

"Yes."

"I don't have anywhere to sleep though."

That comment hits Levi hard, he should've known the king would've expect him to share his bed with Eren considering they're becoming blood sharing buddies—Levi refuses to think of the possibility of him and Eren having sex, even if sharing blood is pretty fucking hot, it's still a probability that's close to zero—but of course the king would just assume Eren would just sleep with him and they'd enjoy each other to the fullest before Eren either gets killed or the noble blood sucked right out of him, whichever comes first, really.

"Levi...?"

"Come sleep." Levi snaps, a bit more grumpily than needed, but enough to convey his obvious dislike towards the situation.

Eren beams brightly, throwing himself happily into the sheets before finding his own spot and in 50 seconds flat, falls straight to sleep.

Levi's frown dampens.


End file.
